ARUSHA, Tanzania
(Xinhua) --The Tanzanian government
has allocated about 1.3 million U.S. dollars for payment to
families of people killed or injured by wildlife across the East
African country.

Ramo Makani, Tanzania’s Deputy
Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism said on Tuesday that
the funds will be paid to victims and next of kin in the
affected areas, particularly those located close to protected
sanctuaries.

He said that the amount will be paid to victims who have
submitted their required documents to the ministry.

"This includes victims who were affected with the wildlife
for the past ten years.

"And for the killed victims, the money will be paid to their
next of kin and those who were injured or their farms were
destroyed, the money will be paid directly to them," the
minister said.

Without divulging the exact number of the victims across
Tanzania, Makani said most of the victims are from 80 districts.

He named Bunda and Serengeti in Mara Region as the highly
affected districts with wildlife attacks because they are being
close to the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site—Serengeti National
Park, Lake Victoria, Grumeti and Ikolongo Game Reserves.

In terms of compensation, Serengeti is the leading district
in the country where victims will get about 187,176 U.S.
dollars, followed by Bunda, whose people will get about 121,854
U.S. dollars.

The minister also suggested the need for village leaders to
ensure that wildlife corridors remained open without human
interactions.

"From my knowledge, routes that were being used by elephants
40 to 30 years ago, they (animal) will continue to use them,
that’s why it is important those areas to remain open. No one
should be allowed to do human activities like farming," the
minister said.

In recent years, herds of elephants from Serengeti National
Park have been invading farmers’ crops in Mara Region, causing
food security concerns in the area.

For instance, in September last year, 30 herds of elephants
from Serengeti National Park invaded villages in Serengeti
District injuring two children and destroyed peoples’ houses and
tonnes of maize stored in warehouses..

EARLIER REPORT:

Tanzania starts trials on
HIV vaccine

DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania (Xinhua) --
Tanzania’s National Institute of
Medical Research (NIMR) has said it has started trials on a
potential vaccine against HIV, raising hope to scientists
struggling to find a cure for the virus that causes AIDS.

Mwele Malecela, the NIMR Director General, said the same
trial was also in progress in Kenya, Botswana, Mozambique,
Zambia and Malawi.

"At the moment at least 17 volunteers have been registered
out of 28 who are expected to be in the trial," Malecela told a
news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

Last month, South Africa also started a ground-breaking trial
that will test the effectiveness of an HIV vaccine, HVTN 702.
More than 5,000 South African volunteers have taken part in the
trial.

Malecela said participants aged between 15 and 50 years, who
are free from HIV and chronic diseases will participate in the
vaccine trial.

"Despite the vaccine trials NIMR is set to invest in doing
more HIV research that will include finding the resistance of
Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) amongst the users," she said.

She said the research on ARVs will be conducted for 15 years
in a joint partnership between NIMR and Mbeya Referral Hospital
and it will involve at least 500 ARVs users at the hospital.

Statistics from the Tanzania Commission for AIDS indicate
that more than 2 million people in Tanzania are living with HIV,
equating to an estimated HIV prevalence of around 5 percent.